The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court against a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), which held that water rights holders are entitled to transfer such rights. The ruling held that trading in such rights is not unlawful.
The SCA judgement followed three appeals in the Lötter, Wiid and South African Association of Water Users Associations cases relating to the correctness of a circular by the DWS in January 2018, in which the DWS determined that water use entitlements could not be transferred.
“The decision of the DWS to appeal to the Constitutional Court is not entirely unsurprising, given the fact that the SCA itself was divided on the matter,” says Janse Rabie, head of Agri SA’s Natural Resources Centre of Excellence.”
For more information on the press release by Agri SA, as published in CHIPS [January | February 2022], click here.